The Final Lesson from Groundhog Day
by Tuzilla
Summary: It's so unfair. Sirius should not die. Where's my time turner? -Hermione learns the lessons of meddling with time. A visitor from MIB makes an appearance late in the story.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Slippery When Wet**

The floor rushed toward their faces as they fell out of the doorway exiting the Hall of Prophesies. Then, just before they crashed into the ground, a cushioning spell softened their landing to gentle thuds.

Where were they? They seemed safe, at least for the moment. Where were the Death Eaters who had been attacking them? How could they get out of here and back to the safety of Hogwarts?

As they looked around, they found themselves standing on a black, rocky mound in a dark, dank enclosure with a seemingly misplaced archway with an ethereal veil lazily waving inside it. Harry and Luna looked into it, hearing muffled, ethereal sounds emanating from behind the veil. It gave this eerie setting, at least for the two of them, an even more unsettling feeling.

"Wh-where are we?" asked Neville, dusting himself off from the landing.

"I have no idea," answered Harry, "But at least we are away from the Death Eaters."

"I wonder what those voices are?" asked Luna, looking into the archway. "They are very curious."

"There aren't any voices, Luna," said Hermione, unable to hear them. The others also looked at Luna like she was hearing things.

"We need to find a way out of here," said Ron.

"Yes. The Death Eaters will be coming. They are bound to find us," said Hermione, frustrated with being at a loss for ideas accenting her voice. "Errrrrrrrr. What can we do?"

Ginny and Luna began walking around sizing up their location and looking for an exit. The place gave the feeling of not having been visited in recent days, if not years. It seemed like an unhappy, sad spot fraught with pain and anguish that would be best off if left alone and forgotten.

Suddenly, there was a rush of black smoke circling them. The Death Eaters had found them. Bellatrix's cackling laugh echoed out of it.

Harry tried to duck but toppled over. As he regained his footing, he saw Lucius Malfoy walking toward him with an outstretched hand. The Death Eaters had all of the others They were hold knives and wands to the throats of the others.

"Did you actually believe, or were you naïve enough to think children had a chance against us?" said Lucius in a condescending, snide tone. "I'll make this simple for you, Potter. Give me the prophecy, now. Or watch your friends die."

Harry stared at him, locked in a classic no-win situation. Should he do the unthinkable and give up the prophecy or standby and watch the others die? Hesitating, he slowly relented and handed over the smoke-filled sphere to Lucius.

Just then a white light flashed behind Lucius. Sirius appeared. He punched Lucius in the face knocking him to the grounds as more members of the Order materialized. The fight was on in earnest.

Curses were flying in all directions. Lucius, who was still on the ground, saw the prophecy fall and shatter on a rock in front of him. Several of the Death Eaters and Order members were flying around the room locked in smoky combat. Others were dueling face-to-face hurling curses back and forth.

Hermione was wrestling to break free of the Death Eater holding her when she was struck by the boot of one of the circling combatants. She fell free of his grip, hitting her head on the ground and passing out.

Sirius gathered Harry as Lucius and another Death Eater moved to confront them. They began exchanging curses among the larger battle. After a protracted fight, the Death Eater was blasted away, followed by Lucius being disarmed. Sirius followed up with a powerful stunning curse knocking him backward, unconscious against the edge of the room.

Hermione was just regaining consciousness as a flash of searing, red light sailed by inches from her head. It was quickly followed by another flash that struck a stunned Sirius in the chest. His face froze into a thousand-yard stare as he toppled, almost in slow motion, back into the arch and disappeared into the folds of the veil.

"NOOOOOOOO!" screamed Harry as he moved to go after him. Remus knew the purpose of the archway, an ancient, rarely-used device for the execution of the darkest, most unrepentant dark wizards. He grabbed him in a tight embrace, preventing Harry from unwittingly killing himself.

Bellatrix chanted "I killed Sirius Black. I killed Sirius Black." As she took off into a hallway, Harry broke loose from Remus and chased after her. He caught her in the main room of the Ministry, knocking her down with the Cruciatus Curse. He pulsed with anger.

As he contemplated how he would deal with her, Voldemort appeared. At first, he urged Harry to kill her, completing his journey to the side of Dark Magic. Then it became more personal. Just before it became a fight, Dumbledore appeared and a fight between him and Voldemort erupted instead.

Their battle raged with great ferocity, both nearly winning a couple of times, until Voldemort shattered to room with a powerful, rage-filled outburst, knocking Dumbledore and Harry backward. Voldemort pulled up the shattered shards of glass and launched them toward Dumbledore and Harry, but Dumbledore's shield spell saved them. Voldemort dissolved himself and entered Harry's body, trying to conquer him from within. A new, different kind of battle began.

Hermione, Ron, and the others entered the room as Dumbledore was on his knees speaking to Harry as he battled Voldemort for control of his body and soul. As Harry finally won this inner conflict, driving Voldemort out and causing him to reanimate, the Aurors began emerging from the fireplaces. Voldemort escaped, but it was finally clear to everyone, including Fudge, that Voldemort was indeed back.

As they left the Ministry for the safety of Hogwarts, Hermione tried to console Harry, who was devastated by being orphaned yet a second time. It was a hopeless task. The pain in his face was agonizing to her. Hermione's strong sense of justice and fairness could not sit still with this tragedy eating at her mind. It was so wrong, so unfair. Harry did not deserve yet another stab in the heart of his already tragedy-filled life. She felt the need to act. She wanted to set things right.

Against her better judgment, she pulled out the time turner she had stashed away in her belongings after saving Buckbeak from the executioner and Sirius from the dementors. It was one thing to use it to attend multiple classes purely out of academic curiosity and desire to excel. It was a completely different thing to use it to change major events with ramifications that could impact the future.

She had resolved not to use it again for anything more than classes. It was far too dangerous of a device. Time, as she was once warned by Dumbledore, is a thing better left alone, a thing best not tampered with. Still, she could not bear to stand by idly and leave Harry in this condition. She felt compelled to go back and save Sirius from his fate. She had to spare Harry from this tragedy. Her heart and mind could not rest until she did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **In Fear and Faith - The Road to Hell is…**

With trembling hands, Hermione pulled the time turner necklace over her head and took the spinnable charm between her thumb and forefinger. She turned it three times, and then spun it. Her faith had overridden her fear. She was committed to her mission.

The room around her became a blur of people coming and going. A moment later she found herself standing alone in her room, but she instinctively knew it was now before the battle would occur.

She apparated to the Ministry and cautiously entered the building. The last thing she wanted was to be seen prior to it becoming necessary. Upon arriving at the Department of Mysteries, she found her way to the entrance of the Room of Prophecies and stealthily slipped inside.

She heard voices. They were Harry, Ron, Luna, Ginny, Neville and herself. They were searching for the prophecy. She moved to an out of the way location just to the side of the exit. She knew that the group would end up passing through here on the way to the battle site.

Time passed. She could hear the beginning of the confrontation. Shouts and screams filled the air as the light from flying curses lit the room like flashes from an approaching storm. Hell had arrived for breakfast, and it was hungry.

"Reducto!" shouted the voice of Ginny. She heard a tinkling of broken glass, and then the whole room started to collapse like tumbling dominoes. Thousands of prophecies and other artifacts were crashing to the floor.

The six of them shot passed her hiding place to the exit. They leaped out as she remembered. She cautiously walked to the exit and peered down. The group was getting up and starting to look around. Then she heard the approach of the Death Eaters. The doorway sealed itself against them. They hurried away to find another entrance to the chamber holding the group.

Hermione remembered the charm she had used to seal the door and used a counterspell to remove it and reopen the doorway. She looked down, wondering how to get involved and save Sirius without being seen as a second Hermione. Time was not going to wait for her to develop a plan. The Death Eaters poured into the room in a fog of thick, black smoke. Lucius started to approach Harry.

She would have to wait for an opening before she could slip into the scene. It would be impossible for a second Hermione to just appear. As the Order started to appear and the battle erupted, she saw her chance. She saw herself knocked from the grip of the Death Eater and fall. She knew she was going to be unconscious for a few moments. Harry's invisibility cloak was stashed in her bag. This was it.  
Hermione leaped down, quickly grabbing her bag and removing the cloak. She pulled it over her unconscious self and prepared to act. She charged toward Sirius as the first curse from Bellatrix's wand shot by. She bumped him and the second curse also missed. He looked at her and smiled while continuing to fight. She looked at Harry, who was looking downward. There, on the floor, was the lifeless body of Remus.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" This was only slightly less excruciating to Harry than if it had been Sirius. Sirius grabbed him, but he broke free to pursue Bellatrix. The rest of the battle played out as before, with the only change being the death of Remus. This was equally unacceptable.

Hermione started back toward her unconscious self, but it was too late. She saw herself running into the room. She quickly apparated back to safety and the school. Now Remus was dead, and it was all her fault. This was even more horrible than before. She knew she would have to go back and try fixing things again.

After time had been reset, she prepared for yet another attempt at repairing the situation that was now of her making. She spun the time turner and returned herself to her hiding spot in the Room of Prophecies.

The battle in the room moved to the room with the arch. Once again, as the battle between the Order and the Death Eaters erupted, Hermione jumped down. This time she was going to deflect the curse a different way to avoid hitting Remus again.

As Bellatrix's curse came at them, Hermione bounced them away. She quickly looked and saw both Sirius and Remus standing there, still engaged in the fight. Success was hers.

But her success was short-lived. Her foot hit something on the floor. Looking down, she saw Harry. Bellatrix had done what Voldemort couldn't. She had killed Harry Potter albeit with the aid of Hermione's interference in the unfolding of events.

Hermione ran toward Bellatrix as the fight raged on. Once in the hallway, she apparated back to Hogwarts. She had made an even bigger mess than before. She was beside herself with grief.

She waited for time to reset. How was she going to rectify things this time? What was the new plan? She was making things worse, not better.

She once again found herself poised to leap into the battle. As things heated up, she leaped down and covered herself. She knew the timing of the situation. As Bellatrix's first curse was launched, Hermione launched a heavy stunning spell at her. Caught in the midst of casting the curse to kill Sirius, she could not react. Her curse shot errantly into the air as Hermione's spell toppled her from her perch in the doorway. She landed head first on the rocky floor, doing what Hermione could not. Bellatrix was no more.

The other Death Eaters panicked at her death. They fled the scene. Everyone was alive, but without the battle inside the Ministry, the situation was still far from acceptable. Just like in the prior scene where Harry died, Voldemort was not discovered by the Ministry. Harry did not learn the final truth about battling Voldemort inside his head. Many things were amiss. Hermione would still need another attempt at finding the perfect fix.

This led her to see the deaths of Ron, Madeye, Mr. Weasley, Ginny, and Kingsley. She even considered sacrificing herself as a final solution to the problem, but she worried it would create an as yet unconsidered situation. It was a horrid conundrum. She found herself moving closer and closer to the inescapable conclusion that it would have to be Sirius who would die. She would have to accept that which seemed unacceptable.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **At the End of a Dead-End Street**

Hermione spun the time turner for what she knew would be the last time. Tears were in her eyes as she knew all too well what was about to happen. She had run out of options. As much as she hated admitting defeat, she was resigned to it.  
When she arrived at her hiding spot, she was shocked to find a man in a colorful, knit ski cap and too heavy for the temperature coat looking at her.

"Who are you?" she gasped, on the end of panic.

"Don't be afraid. I am Griffin. Please call me Griff. I am an Archanan. I sensed a disturbance in time caused by your repeated use of your time device. I came to see what situation has caused you to revisit this moment so many times."

"You are a time traveler?" queried Hermione, shocked at even thinking the idea.

"Actually, I exist in time. I can see all of the possibilities for the future from whatever location I am at."

"What do you see here?"

"Unfortunately, I see death."

"Whose death do you see?"

"That depends on which future we are in. I sense we are in the one where the person who dies is named Sirius."

"Yes," said Hermione, bowing her head. "That is the one we are in. Is there any future where no one dies and we can go on?"

"Yes, but without the necessary immediate death and events that follow it, those futures will be very different. I do not think you will like those futures. I can show them to you if you wish."

The battle was raging. It would be mere moments before the group would charge past them. Griff touched Hermione's arm and she froze in place. When he removed his hand, she looked at him in sad recognition that what was about to occur needed to occur. The other futures were even more unspeakable than those she had already experienced.

"They're all ghastly," gasped Hermione as Griff nodded. "There is no escaping death. It only gets worse."

They ducked back as the group ran to the door and leaped into the room below. The Death Eaters came and went.

Hermione stood in the doorway with Griff looking down on the scene she had lived too many times in the past hours. She could hear the sound of inevitability arriving.

The Death Eaters reappeared a few moments later followed by the Order. The battle began and raged as her heart ached. She knew what was going to happen, and she had to allow it to play out. She winced and collapsed on Griff's arm as the curse from Bellatrix's wand struck Sirius in the chest. He fell gently, almost peacefully back into the archway as Harry screamed and Remus grabbed him. Death had arrived and collected its bill. There were no negotiations further available.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes. She didn't want Sirius to die. She didn't want anyone to die. But she had come to realize that no matter what, some things in life cannot be changed. While much of life is flexible, malleable, some parts are hardened steel and cannot be altered. Sometimes, no matter how smart you are, no matter how hard you try, some things cannot be fixed.

She hugged Griff, crying her eyes out.

"I am sorry you had to learn about time this way," said Griff. "Time presents almost infinite futures and possibilities, but wherever there is death, there will always be death. You were forced to confront that inevitability. Painful as it was, you learned the lesson of time. You are my new favorite human."

"Thank you, Griff," she said, trying unsuccessfully to stem the flow of tears. "But it hurts so bad. I want it to quit hurting."

"That is another of life's lessons. You will come to understand it in the future unless this is the future where - OH! I've got to go," said Griff, turning and disappearing into the darkness.

She apparated back to the school and buried the time turner deep in her trunk. She had to stay hidden, still crying inconsolably until the intersection of time arrived and she would return to the present, a more melancholy soul who had learned some painful truths about life. Along with the loss of Sirius, she had to accept her failure, admit defeat by her biggest fear, the thing represented by her boggart. Life would still have to go on from there. There was no other choice.


End file.
